A place to catch up with all of the day’s news – from the big breaking stories to the more offbeat items that you may have missed elsewhere. Cohen also shares her musings on the latest Southern California news and what’s happening in the KPCC newsroom.

April 21, 2010 -- When I was in grade school, P.E. was torture. I suffered through the President's Physical Fitness test and endless relay races. I would have been much happier to learn something practical - like self-defense. Well, turns out future generations might be able to do just that thanks to State Senator Christine Kehoe.

Kehoe wrote legislation that would allow California schools to teach self-defense and safety training starting in middle school. The bill came in response to the murders of two San Diego-area women, Chelsea King and Amber Dubois.

Bernie Rhinersonn of the San Diego Unified School District says the training is critical. Take a listen:

Right now, public schools can offer self-defense training in high school classes. Kehoe's bill would allow schools to teach to students beginning in seventh grade.

Six pieces shot by one of my favorite photographers, Ansel Adams, will be returning to his son, Michael. Michael and his wife Jeanne gave several prints to the Fresno Metropolitan Museum in 1983.The Museum closed in January after going into $4 million debt.

The Museum had tried to sell the prints to pay off creditors. But Michael Adams says that wasn't part of the deal and sued. The photos being returned include ones of Yosemite National Park, Mount McKinley and Lone Pine. In exchange for return of the prints, the Adams family will give the museum other Ansel Adams prints of equal value for an October auction.

Recently, there's been talk of trading futures based on predicted movie tickets sales. Well, that may not happen after all. A proposed ban on betting on the box office took one step closer to becoming law today. Today, a U.S. Senate committee passed a financial regulatory reform bill that supports Hollywood in outlawing the trading of box office futures. The bill was backed by Democratic Senator Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas.

The Motion Picture Association of America was quite pleased about today's vote. But they still may have a battle ahead of them. Earlier this month, federal regulators approved the creation of two exchanges that would trade in movie futures. To date they haven't approved specific contracts. A House committee public hearing on the issue is scheduled for tomorrow.

And though Hollywood still makes plenty of trashy movies, they're not generating nearly as much trash. Hollywood's Solid Waste Task Force reports that major movie studios collectively diverted 66 percent of studio sets and other solid waste from landfills. This translates to about 40 million fewer pounds of garbage.

Today MPAA President Bob Pisano said a joint effort by the MPAA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers has reached an "all-time high" in recycling and reusing since the early 1990s.

What will you be doing this Earth Day? I'll be in Silverlake helping people make a promise to the planet. Hope to see you there.